Jeff Smith's Bone is excellent.
Really, it's one of the great comic books of our time -- like a fusion of The Lord of the Rings and Walt Disney, it comprises exciting family-friendly adventures and enjoyably-cartoony art. I love it, and it goes without saying that I'd recommend the series to anyone.
So when I was considering regular additions to the blog, one thing came to mind pretty easily: a full reread of the Bone books. Chapter by chapter, I'm going to discuss what makes this series so enjoyable, as well as go into some of the scripting techniques used, highlighting what I might take as inspiration or guidance from Mr Smith's skill as a writer.
What this series won't be though, is a review. I'm still working on my review skills and I'd rather not get into the nitty-gritty deconstruction that some might expect, were I to call this a review series. This is more of a recap -- a discussion of why it's good, not an artistic critique.
You can read along, too, and comment if you like.
So without further ado ...
Out from Boneville
Chapter 1
THE VALLEY
First thing off the bat, it's impossible to ignore the world that Bone is set in. I'm reading the Scholastic colour version, and the interior of the cover is a two-page spread showing a map of The Valley, the region that the series takes place in. In yet another comparison with LOTR, beginning with the fantasy map is a wonderful way to excite the reader about the journey to come.
THE BONE COUSINS
I have to admit that the first few pages of the book are full of exposition, setting up the plight of our protagonists and their contrasting personalities -- but this is an example of exposition done right. Here each of the Bone cousins, Fone, Phoney and Smiley, is given a quick recent past and attitude to the situation at hand, just in time for them to realise they're in big trouble ... and then the adventure begins!
THE MYSTERY
Here, the stupid Rat Creatures are a highlight, setting up a recurring joke that is probably one of the most popularly recognisable aspects of the comic (by the way, nice t-shirt). But what's more is that there are so many elements to Chapter 1 that come into play much later: in classic fantasy fashion we begin to gather Chekhov's guns, themes, motifs and recurring characters. The actual significance of most of these is downplayed with a "little do you know what's to come" attitude. The Red Dragon is as cool as ever, smoking a (presumably non-deadly to dragons) cigarette and protecting Fone from the Rat Creatures. The introduction of Ted feels particularly Disneyish, suggesting Jeff Smith's history in traditional animation.
There are a few bits that feel out of place; this is to be expected with any long series that evolves and streamlines over time. The fact that Ted's Big Brother never returned felt a little bit weird given how much emphasis the large insect is granted on the page. And the sudden arrival of winter at the end is a humorous sight-gag but nothing else in the world is really like that. The fact that the rest of the series includes semi-realistic human characters probably sets an upper limit on this more outrageously physics-defying element of the Bone universe.
IN A NUTSHELL
Apart from the exposition in the opening (even that is covered by sleight-of-hand, using dialogue, rather than in an information dump), Chapter 1 is a great example of how to start with a bang and introduce the adventure of Bone to the reader. If you are interested in writing comics and want to examine the strengths of Out from Boneville, these are the major takeaways I found in Chapter 1:
First, character interactions are always more relatable than histories, sociologies, magic or anything else you have in your world-builder's toolkit. We might not know much about Boneville (other than it seems to run on very similar rules to our world) and at the start we know nothing about the Valley, so there's a lot of information to catch the audience up on -- but what we do know is that Fone Bone cares about Phoney and Smiley (enough even to rescue Phoney from an angry mob at the expense of his own comfort and safety). This endears Fone's plight to the audience: we care about him reuniting with his cousins and trust that this will happen. Because it hasn't by the end of the issue, we're eager to find out what happens next.
Second, and this is more specific to comics, just because they are stationary images on the page doesn't mean you can't take inspiration from propulsive media like animated cartoons. Many pages in Chapter 1 (and in the rest of the series) have more than ten panels, showing the action in multiple steps like the frames of a movie. This contrasts with the method in superhero comics of "one action per panel, one idea per page".
TILL NEXT TIME ...
Next, things really get going with the introduction of more core characters and hints to the greater arc of the story. Join me here next week for a discussion of Chapter 2.
